Something to Warm You Up

Hopefully, this little puff piece from Jim Salisbury in today's Inquirer will get you excited about the season and the warm weather which will eventually come:

PHILADELPHIA — Forget that overhyped furball from Punxsutawney. (He’ll only eat your petunias in four months, anyway.) There is no better harbinger of spring than the 18-wheeler that carries the Phillies’ equipment to Florida every February.
The big rig, loaded with bats, balls and high hopes, pulled out of Citizens Bank Park late Thursday morning. It hung a left on Broad Street and chugged up the ramp for I-95 South.
Sometime Friday, after 1,100 miles and countless Pedro’s South of the Border signs, the truck will cross the Courtney Campbell Causeway and pass the sign that says: Welcome to Clearwater, Winter Home of the Phillies.
Yes, the baseball spring is almost here. In six days, the mitts will be a-poppin’ when pitchers and catchers report to camp. The first full-squad workout will be five days later. Sixty-one players will be in camp.
That’s a lot of jelly beans.
Yes, jelly beans. That was one of the items that was packed on the truck Thursday morning. They’re specially made for athletes, high in carbohydrates and other nutrients. The Phils took 40 cases of them to Florida. (Apparently they’re serious about ending this 13-year playoff drought.)
Phillies equipment men Phil Sheridan, Dan O’Rourke and Kevin Steinhour oversaw the packing of the truck. It took about four hours, and the truck was full when it left. A local company, Wayne Moving, is handling the transportation. Sheridan, O’Rourke and Steinhour will fly to Clearwater on Friday and unpack the truck and set up the clubhouse at Bright House Networks Field on Saturday morning.
Some of us have trouble getting the kids ready for a week at the Shore. Imagine what it’s like packing for a big-league team and six weeks of spring training.
“This is probably the hardest part of the year because everything is times three,” Sheridan said. “Usually, we’re just working with 25 guys. Here we have 61 players, plus a manager, coaches and instructors.”
So, how much equipment do the Phillies take to Clearwater?
How does 1,200 dozen baseballs sound? (Expensive at $74 per dozen.) The Phils take 850 bats. Reigning National League most valuable player Ryan Howard will have three dozen maple bats (team-bought at $65 per bat) waiting for him when he arrives.
There were 400 batting helmets on the truck? “Four hundred?
“We have them with the (ear) flap on the left, with the flap on the right, and some with double flaps,” Sheridan said. “We have them from size 6¨ to 8. Howard wears a 7ˆ. Todd Pratt wore an 8. And we have a few extra for Chase.”
Sheridan explained that fiery second baseman Chase Utley can be a little hard on helmets.
“He’ll go through six or seven a year,” Sheridan said. “Somehow they end up having accidents, as he likes to say.”
About 100 of the helmets (cost: $30) are new. The rest were used last year, but you’d never know it because they’ve been cleaned. When Jim Thome was a Phillie, he never wanted his helmet cleaned. He liked it dirty and caked with pine tar.
“I remember one of his teammates flipped and broke Jim’s helmet,” said O’Rourke, his eyes widening. “Jim was not happy.”
You never want to be short a piece of equipment in spring training. So, the Phillies bring 30 dozen caps, 1,500 pairs of pants, 2,500 undershirts, 300 pairs of gym trunks, 200 pairs of sliding shorts, 100 pairs of shower sandals, 2,000 towels, and two cases of pine tar.
The Phils bring 24 cases of sunflower seeds for munching, 24 cases of bubble gum, 200 pounds of powdered sport drink, and 15,000 paper cups, most of which end up on the dugout floor.
The truck left with 300 pounds of laundry detergent, 100 pounds of special grass-stain soap, 50 gallons of pine tar remover, and a sewing machine to fix torn pants.
Once in Florida, the team will purchase shampoo and soap for the clubhouse, as well as that Florida necessity — sunblock. Why aren’t more items purchased in Florida?
“Because we want to know we have it before we leave,” Sheridan said.
The training staff sends several boxes of equipment, including 60 cases of athletic tape. All the team’s video equipment is on the truck. Front office personnel pack their equipment on board, and players who live in the area send personal belongings down on the truck.
“Over the years, we’ve had cribs, playpens, Big Wheels and Barbie bikes on the truck,” Sheridan said. “We have 15 sets of golf clubs on here right now. Coming back, we’ll probably have 40.”
Gloves, spikes and batting gloves aren’t as plentiful on the truck as balls and bats. Some players consider gloves to be an extension of their hands. They’ll take their favorites home for the winter and bring them back in the spring. Others simply will get new ones shipped right from the manufacturer to Clearwater, along with several pairs of spikes and batting gloves.
In addition to bulk equipment, the Phillies’ equipment personnel pack each player a personal bin, which contains items the player left in his locker over the winter.
Sheridan, who has been doing this since 1992, was stacking those bins the other day when he was overcome with spring fever, or shall we call it pennant fever?
“I started looking at some of the names — ‘Here’s Freddy Garcia, here’s Jimmy Rollins, there’s the National League MVP’ — and I’m thinking, ‘This team is legit,’ “ Sheridan said. “On paper, we’re just as good as the Mets.
“Or maybe I should say, in the truck we’re just as a good as the Mets.”